FORMATION OF RADICAL CRITICAL PRACTICE: THERE IS NO RADICAL PRACTICE WITHOUT RADICAL THEORY. YET, THERE’S MUCH MORE TO IT!

What is the point of criticizing the system today when there has already been so much written about it? Or better, is it possible to produce a real critical reflection upon the ever more poignant forms of exploitation and subjugation to interject into the collective consciousness in order to provoke a change? We are confronted with various ideas holding that critical discourse is a warning sign against the impossibility of the system to function, that it involves but the raising of social awareness and the localization of the common denominator of the new global struggle that might perhaps unleash resistance against the dominant power structure – capital, and more precisely, profit and private property. The problem is not in the critique as such, but in the way in which it is formed, in its definition, conceptualization and rationale. Therefore, the question arises as to what theoretical basis to draw upon in redefining critical practice and what theory to call upon for intervention to occur. It is precisely for this reason that radical critical practice aims at producing radical theoretical discourse that takes shape at the intersection of different social practices – from art, philosophy, theory to political activism – organising upon them its own practice, incorporating them into its own agency and, more importantly, intervening through them into the social structure as a whole. Radical critical practice is not marked only by multilayered agency, but also by a new political engagement that allows for the repoliticization of the politically castrated subject.

The project Formation of Radical Critical Practice analyzes and brings forwardthe role of production of radical critical discourse in the present, its intervention into the social structure and its potentiality. The extension of context that is established through the multilayered mode of agency enables a simultaneous intervention into different social fields, their improvement and change. In order to understand this shift, one needs to understand new paradigms and structures that allow for the establishment of these relationships at the practical level, where particular projects trigger a social reaction, as well as at the theoretical level, where a project means building and upgrading the tools needed for the researching and analysis of the ever more strained social conditions.

The present multiple issue of Reartikulacija presents these very formations, analyzing through scientific, artistic and activist agency various social agents that frame contemporary society as the necrosocial, theory as a mere brand and activism as a style. Moreover, it brings forth systematically chosen projects, theories and artistic practices that by way of their analytical power and artistic and critical activity offer the option for a radical possibility here and now.

Finally, the situation of Reartikulacija is getting worse with each issue – censorship is occurring at the level of receiving the necessary funds for publication, financing project partners are slowly disappearing, money supply is curtailed, and public resources are inaccessible due to bureaucratization. These last are only accessible, so to speak, to the handful of those whose routine operations tally with the state’s vision of art, culture and theory meant to pragmatically take the line of least resistance, producing not-too-critical works and carrying out an increasingly managerially efficient and capitalist-oriented global informational program.